Insights

France’s new PACTE law has set out to modernise utility certificates by increasing their term of protection and adding new provisions to allow applicants to transform utility certificate applications into patent applications.

Celebrities are advised to protect their names as trademarks if they are to take action against unauthorised use by third parties, as Megan Taylor explains.

As Liverpool Football Club recently discovered, there are barriers to registering the name of a town, city or other geographical place name as a trademark.

A recent judgement by the Court of Justice of the EU has considered whether failing to specify goods and services clearly and precisely in trademark applications is a sign that the applicant acted in bad faith.

Service offering customers the opportunity to pay to name a star, in return for a certificate, found to be misleading for the purposes of trademark registration, as Louise van de Mortel explains. 

Will the PACTE law, which seeks to tighten up the way in which patents are issued in France, result in stronger French patents or a gradual abandonment of its measures?

Controlling use of your brand online can be a daunting task. That’s why clever planning, time-saving tools and automated enforcement procedures are critical to success.

Find out how Novagraaf assisted the University of Bordeaux and University Medical Centre of Bordeaux’s IP management organisation, SATT Aquitaine Science Transfer, to protect a new breakthrough treatment. 

Trademark enforcement is critical to brand protection strategies, but taking too heavy-handed an approach can often do more damage than good, as backcountry.com recently learned to its cost.